Privacy Policy
Last updated 26 October 2026
Hairpin is an app for driving together in a group. This policy explains what information the app collects, why it collects it, who it is shared with, and the choices you have. It applies to the Hairpin mobile app on iOS and Android, including the Apple CarPlay and Android Auto surfaces.
Who We Are
Hairpin is operated by its developers and owners (“Hairpin”, “we”, “us”). If you have any question about this policy or your data, contact us at [email protected].
Information We Collect
Account information — your email address and, if you sign in with Apple or Google, a verified identifier from that provider.
Profile and vehicle — your handle, optional profile photo, and the car details you choose to enter (year, make, model, colour and appearance).
Location — precise GPS location while you use the app, including in the background when navigation, a convoy drive, or a connected car surface is active.
Voice and audio — recordings you make with push‑to‑talk, and voice you speak to the Scout assistant (sent to OpenAI to be turned into text, if you allow Scout).
Content you create — hazard reports, saved places, routes, and messages you send to your crew.
Car scans — if you scan your car, the photos you take for the scan (sent to Tripo, an AI 3D service, to build the model) and the 3D model made from them.
Reports and blocks — reports you file about another member or their content, and the list of members you have blocked. A blocked member is not told.
Device and diagnostics — device model, operating system version, app and update version, a push notification token, and crash or error reports. Diagnostic and crash reports are built to leave out your location and the names of the places you search for, save or drive to, and coordinates are removed on your device before a report is sent. If you switch on Detailed diagnostics in Settings › Developer, that device’s reports include its position and searches until the app restarts.
Location Data
Location is the core of the app: it draws your car on the live convoy map, powers turn‑by‑turn navigation, positions hazard reports, and feeds the CarPlay and Android Auto map.
Hairpin never sells your location or uses it for advertising or tracking. It goes only to the services that run the app — maps, routes, search, weather, road data and, if you allow it, Scout’s AI — so they can do their job.
Hairpin collects location in the background so the map, navigation and the car display keep working while your phone is locked or the app is behind the head unit. You can revoke location access at any time in your device settings; the convoy map and navigation will not function without it.
Your car’s position is visible to members of the clubs and conversations you have joined. It is never shown to the public or to people outside your crew. What your crew sees is your car, not you: your live position is shared while you are driving — while your phone is connected to CarPlay or Android Auto, or moving at vehicle speed (sharing starts above about 15 km/h, which can include riding a bike or travelling as a passenger) — and once you stop driving your crew sees the car’s last parked spot instead, so walking away from your car shares nothing. Choose Visible or Ghost in Settings › Visibility & Comms (or the H menu); in Ghost your position is not shared, driving or parked.
Voice and Audio
Push‑to‑talk recordings are sent to our servers so they can be delivered to the crew or conversation you addressed them to. They are not sent to any AI service.
Voice you speak to Scout is sent to our servers and on to OpenAI, which turns it into text; the words are then sent to Anthropic, which writes Scout’s reply. This happens only if you have allowed Scout’s AI (see “Scout and Third‑Party AI” below).
The microphone is only used while you are actively transmitting or speaking to Scout. Hairpin does not record or listen in the background.
Scout and Third‑Party AI
Scout, the voice assistant, and its spoken voice use two outside AI companies. Hairpin asks your permission, in the app, before anything is sent to either of them, and you can switch it off at any time in Settings › Visibility & Comms. You can use Hairpin without it.
OpenAI (speech to text, and text to speech) receives: your voice recordings when you speak to Scout, and the text Hairpin reads aloud — turn directions with street and place names, Scout’s replies and the drive greeting.
Anthropic (Claude, which writes Scout’s replies) receives: the words you said to Scout; your call sign, and the call signs, distances and speeds of your crew when you ask about them; hazards near you when you ask; your destination’s name and city, the time of day, the traffic and the weather for the drive greeting; the name, type and description of the place you arrive at; and, when you ask Scout for scenic stops, the start and end points of the route with their coordinates and any note you add.
Tripo (an AI 3D‑modelling service) receives the photos of your car when you make a car scan. Hairpin asks you again at every scan.
We do not sell this information or use it for advertising. Each company handles what it receives under its own terms and privacy policy.
If you choose Not now, nothing is sent to OpenAI or Anthropic: Scout stays silent, turn directions and alerts are spoken by your phone’s own voice instead, and the map, routes, search, the on‑screen turn banner, hazards, your crew and push‑to‑talk keep working.
Launch Waitlist
If you join the launch waitlist on this website, we collect your name, your email address, when you signed up and, if you choose, whether you use an iPhone or Android. We first email you once to confirm it’s really you; you’re on the list only after you tap the link in that email, and if you don’t, we don’t email you again. We use your details only to email you when Hairpin launches, and every email has an unsubscribe link that deletes your details at once. We also note which button you used to sign up and, if it was a plan’s button, which plan you were interested in. We never sell or share the list, and we delete it once launch emails are done. We count anonymous button clicks (no personal data) to see which plans people want. You can also be removed by emailing [email protected] and we’ll delete your details.
How We Use Your Information
To operate the convoy map, navigation, comms, hazard reporting and the car surfaces; to keep your account secure; to deliver notifications you have asked for; and to diagnose crashes and improve reliability. We do not use your information for advertising or profiling.
Sharing
With your crew — your handle, avatar, vehicle appearance, your car’s position (per your Visible / Ghost setting), transmissions and hazard reports are shared with members of the clubs and conversations you join.
With service providers — we use other companies to run the app. Each receives only what it needs to do its job:
- Mapbox draws the map and works out routes. It receives the map area you are looking at and the start, end and stops of a route.
- Google (Places) finds places. It receives what you type into search and your position, so nearby places come first; place‑name lookups go to Google too, and so does sign‑in if you use Sign in with Google.
- OpenWeather supplies the weather. It receives the coordinates it is asked about: your position or your destination.
- OpenStreetMap, through the public Overpass servers, supplies speed limits and speed‑camera locations. It receives the coordinates of the area around you.
- DriveBC (Open511, Province of British Columbia) supplies road incidents in BC. It receives a box of about 40 km around you.
- OpenAI and Anthropic power Scout, and Tripo builds car scans — only with your permission, as described in “Scout and Third‑Party AI” above.
- Our hosting, database, file‑storage and live‑presence providers (Render, MongoDB, Supabase), update and push‑notification services (Expo, Apple, Google) and email provider (Resend) carry your account data, the crew map and our messages to you.
Hairpin never sells your location or uses it for advertising or tracking. It goes only to the services that run the app — maps, routes, search, weather, road data and, if you allow it, Scout’s AI — so they can do their job. (The one exception you control is the Developer setting “Detailed diagnostics”, described above: it is off unless you switch it on, and it switches itself off when the app restarts.)
Music services — if you connect Apple Music, the app controls playback through it. Your listening data is governed by Apple's own privacy policy.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. We may disclose information if required by law.
Retention and Deletion
Account and profile data is kept while your account exists. Live positions are transient and are not kept as a location history. Transmissions and hazard reports are kept only as long as they are useful to your crew. Crash reports are kept for diagnostics.
You can delete your account yourself, inside the app: Settings › Account › Delete account. It shows you what will be deleted before you confirm, and the account is closed at once. You can also delete it without the app, on the web at https://convoy-backend-j9q1.onrender.com/delete-account (we email a one‑time code to the address on the account). Deleting removes your profile, garage and car scans, drives and trips, voice clips and one‑to‑one conversations. Hazard alerts you reported stay until they expire but no longer link back to you, and reports you filed are kept without your identity so we can finish reviewing them. Copies held by our providers (hosting and email logs, backups) expire on their own schedules. You can also email [email protected].
Security
Data is sent over encrypted connections and access to our systems is restricted. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Children
Hairpin is intended for licensed drivers and is not directed at children. You must be at least 16 to create an account, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone younger.
Your Rights
You can access, correct or delete your information — you can delete your account yourself in Settings › Account — withdraw permissions such as location, microphone or notifications in your device settings, and request a copy of your data. Contact [email protected].
Safety and Distracted Driving
Hairpin is a driving aid. It is not a substitute for attentive, lawful driving, and it does not control your vehicle.
You are solely responsible for operating your vehicle safely and in accordance with all applicable laws. Set your destination, crew and preferences before you begin driving, and use hands‑free voice controls while under way. Do not read, type or interact with the app while the vehicle is moving.
Never allow the app, its notifications, comms, hazard reports or map to draw your attention from the road. Posted signs, road markings, traffic signals and real‑world conditions always take precedence over anything shown in the app.
Hairpin, its developers and its owners are not responsible for distracted driving or for any collision, injury, death, citation, loss or damage arising from your use of the app while operating a vehicle. Use of the app while driving is entirely at your own risk.
Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability
The app is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non‑infringement.
Routes, estimated arrival times, posted speed limits, speed‑camera locations, road‑incident data, crowd‑sourced hazard reports and the positions of other drivers may be inaccurate, incomplete, delayed or unavailable. Do not rely on them as your sole source of information.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Hairpin, its developers, owners and contributors shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, goodwill, vehicle damage, personal injury or death, arising out of or in connection with your use of, or inability to use, the app — whether based in contract, tort, negligence, strict liability or otherwise, and whether or not we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Nothing in this policy excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy as the app changes. The date at the top shows when it was last revised, and continued use of the app after an update means you accept the revised policy.
Contact
Questions about privacy, or a request to delete your data: [email protected]. Delete your account in the app (Settings › Account) or at https://convoy-backend-j9q1.onrender.com/delete-account.